ACTION FOR STOP GENOCIDE IN GAZA

ACTION FOR STOP GENOCIDE IN GAZA

ACTION FOR STOP GENOCIDE IN GAZA

Urgent international action must be taken to stop Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people.

The international community must act to protect the millions of Palestinian children, women and men whose lives are being threatened by Israel’s continued criminal onslaught against the Gaza Strip and across the rest of the Occupied Palestine. In Israel’s war on Gaza more than 34,000 Palestinians have been martyred, at least two-thirds of the casualties are children and women. The brutality and inhumanity of Israel’s assault on Gaza is no surprise.

Beyond the breach of the international humanitarian law, Israel has violated international human rights as well. The available evidence suggests that Israeli regime is responsible for committing inhuman acts in violation of the Apartheid Convention. As the International Court of Justice held both branches of law (international humanitarian and international human rights law) applicable during armed conflict (Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo I.C.J. Rep. 168, Paras 215-221), Israeli regime must stop suppressing Palestinians’ exercise of their civil and political rights, and denying Palestinians’ basic human rights and freedoms.

International humanitarian law prohibits direct attacks against civilians and civilian objects. According to the Customary International Humanitarian Law, area bombardment is prohibited, and where doubt exists, a civilian or object normally dedicated to civilian purposes must be presumed to remain as such. In such a densely populated area as Gaza, home to a population – including over a million children – already weakened by 16 prior years of stringent blockade and decades of military occupation, and now under complete siege, heightened care in the adherence to the laws of war is imperative. Instead, as the UN Secretary General has observed, “we are witnessing” …“clear violations of international humanitarian law… in Gaza”.

The deliberate obstruction of the rapid, impartial and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief, including food, water, medical supplies, clothing, bedding, shelter, heating fuel and other supplies and related services essential for the survival of a civilian population is prohibited under customary international law. The starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare, including willfully impeding adequate relief supplies, as Israel regime is doing in Gaza, which is strictly prohibited under customary international law (as codified in API, Art 54), has been robustly condemned by the UN Security Council Resolution 2417, and constitutes a war crime (RS Art 8.2.b.xxv).

Customary international law also strictly prohibits the forcible transfer of the civilian population from one area to another (GCIV, Art 49/APII, Art 17(1)). Breach of the prohibition constitutes a war crime (RS, Arts 8.2.a.vii/8.2.b.viii/8.2.e.viii) and a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions (GCIV, Art 147); and may amount to a crime against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population (RS, Art 7.1.d).

Israeli regime has deliberately targeted hospitals and medical infrastructure throughout the last six months. Israeli forces attacked the Indonesian Hospital, al-Quds Hospital, al-Shifa Hospital, the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, and the International Eye Hospital. Moreover, there are instances, the most notable and well-documented being at the al-Shifa Hospital, where NICU babies were forcibly abandoned and left to the stage of decomposition due to the ground assault on the hospital complex.

Gaza's Civil Defence agency stated that on 22 April 2024, health workers had uncovered around 200 bodies over the past three days of people killed and buried by Israeli forces inside the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza’s Khan Younis. The Israeli regime has attacked hospitals before by committing war crimes; on 19 October 2023, the UN experts have issued warnings regarding attacks on hospitals, and this demonstrates that if these horrible crimes are not halted, they will inevitably be repeated.

Medical units must be respected and protected in all circumstances. Directing an attack against a zone established to shelter the wounded, the sick and civilians from the effects of hostilities is prohibited. It is set forth in the First and Fourth Geneva Conventions (GCI Art 23 and GCIV, Art 14). Its scope was expanded in Additional Protocol I to cover civilian medical units in all circumstances (API, Art 12). This extension is widely supported in State practice.

In a resolution adopted in 1970 on basic principles for the protection of civilian populations in armed conflicts, the UN General Assembly stated that “places or areas designated for the sole protection of civilians, such as hospital zones or similar refuges, should not be the object of military operations” (UNGA Resolution 2675).

Under the Statute of the International Criminal Court, intentionally directing attacks against “hospitals and places where the sick and the wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives” and against “medical units using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law” constitutes a war crime in international armed conflicts.